I've been feeding my 3 raw for almost a year now. Ollie is a pom/spitz mix and weighs about 20 pounds or so. I make sure she has soft bones, chicken legs, turkey wings, flat bones & things like that. Last night I fed them a package of pigs feet. The feet are split & the bones are very soft & she has eaten them before with no problems. All of them are fed seperate so there is no need for them to feel rushed or to gobble their food. She took the normal amount of time to eat & knocked on the door to be let out. She came into my room & immediatly began to throw up. I went into the kitchen for paper towels & when I came in she was making the most horrific sounds! She was choking!!! I reached in her mouth & could feel a bone but couldn't quite reach it so I held hre upside down & squeezed her while Amanda pounded on her back. I reached back in her mouth & could grab enough to pull it out. It was big. She had thrown up HUGE chunks of meat & bone! I am surprised she was even able to swallow them!! So starting tonight she gets only ground meat with an occasional turkey or chicken neck. No more bones for her! The little turd scared me.

There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.

Wow, that's scary! I'm glad she's ok! Poor little Ollie. Yes, they can swallow some pretty big pieces. I feed my dog half raw and I always keep an eye on her while she eats in case she starts to choke. I gave her a whole chicken leg quarter once and she did choke on that so now I cut the legs off from the thighs and feed them separate.

You did the right thing to hold her upside down and squeeze her to loosen the stuck bone. I've seen and read that that is the proper way to do in such an emergency.

And with raw bones, you can take a hammer and break them up into small pieces. That would help a lot and I know folks who do that.
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That's the only thing I could think of to do! I did the same thing to Amanda when she was about 2. She swallowed a gum ball her cousin had given her & started to choke. I picked her up by her leg, swung her upside down, pounded on her back & squeezed her & out it popped. I sat her back down & off she ran like nothing had happened. I have ( surprisinlgly) QUICK reflexes, act on instinct & freak out later!

There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.

Glad you have quick reflexes! I saw a TV show about how they were training dogs in prisons to be good pets and one of those dogs got something stuck in her throat and started to choke. They quickly held her upside down and squeezed her and the object popped right out. It's a good thing to know what to do if such a thing happens.
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Munkee has choked on rawhide in the past . His mouth is big enough that I could just reach in & grab it. In case that I couldn't, I don't know. Maybe force them on their side & lay behind them & squeeze? Or maybe stand behind them, grab them around the middle & squeeze?

There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.